Collingsworth Family gospel group to give holiday show

Thursday

Dec 13, 2012 at 12:01 AM

“Feels Like Christmas” is not just the title of a new holiday album by the Collingsworth Family. It's also an expression likely to be uttered by at least a few concertgoers as they exit the Spartanburg Memorial Auditorium after the acclaimed contemporary Southern gospel group performs there Friday night.

By DAN ARMONAITISdan.armonaitis@shj.com

“Feels Like Christmas” is not just the title of a new holiday album by the Collingsworth Family. It's also an expression likely to be uttered by at least a few concertgoers as they exit the Spartanburg Memorial Auditorium after the acclaimed contemporary Southern gospel group performs there Friday night.Presented by WSSL's “Sunday in the South” radio program hosted by Mark and Jerri Ferguson, the Collingsworth Family's Christmas concert will be loaded with harmonies and smiles that are sure to spread plenty of seasonal cheer.“There will definitely be a lot of Christmasy music,” said Phil Collingsworth, the family patriarch.Collingsworth and his wife, Kim, began their musical ministry in 1986 and were eventually joined by each of their four children — now ranging in age from age 14 to 23 — to perform on the contemporary Southern gospel circuit.“We're big fans of the Carpenters and the albums that they released before Karen (Carpenter) passed away, so that naturally has a big influence on our interpretation of Christmas music,” Collingsworth said.In concert, the Ohio-based group will perform selections from its “Feels Like Christmas” album along with other yuletide classics and a smattering of its non-holiday contemporary gospel hits such as “Just Another Rainy Day.”“We are a gospel music group, and we make sure we put plenty of traditional classic Christmas songs in there like ‘Beautiful Star of Bethlehem,' but we also like to put some of the fun Christmas songs in there like ‘Winter Wonderland,' ” Collingsworth said.Among the highlights of the show will be a performance of “Peace on Earth Tonight,” a Christmas song that Kim Collingsworth wrote a few years ago in support of U.S. troops.“Kim has a lot of military (personnel) in her family, particularly her brother who is in Walter Reed Medical Center right now from a brain injury he suffered in Iraq, so that song means a lot to us,” Phil said. “It will be in the program (Friday) night, and we will be giving special honor to all veterans who are in the audience.”Although the group features some skilled instrumentalists, including the trumpet-playing Phil Collingsworth, vocal harmony is the driving force in the family's pop-inflected Southern gospel sound.

“To us, music is harmony, and that's probably one of the reasons we're in the inspirational, Southern gospel-type genre that we're in,” Collingsworth said. “Even though we don't probably fit the perfect configuration of what is typically thought of as Southern gospel, we love those types of harmonies.“In most contemporary Christian music, harmony is minimalized and very rarely used, but in this genre it is king daddy.”In 2012, the Collingsworth Family received a Singing News Fan Award and a National Quartet Convention Award for Mixed Group of the Year. And as a pianist, Kim Collingsworth was named Musician of the Year by the NQC.Additionally, Phillip Jr., 18, won the Singing News Fan Award for Young Artist of the Year, following in the footsteps of his violin-playing sisters Courtney, 21, and Brooklyn, 23, who received the honor the previous two years, respectively.The youngest of the Collingsworth Family, 14-year-old Olivia, is also establishing a reputation as a pianist and vocalist.“As they were growing up, (our children) began to join right in and they sang along with us because our house was saturated with music,” Collingsworth said. “We never tried to create something that wasn't there; it just happened very naturally.”The group has performed together as The Collingsworth Family since 2000 and has earned the respect and admiration of Southern gospel's biggest ambassadors, Bill and Gloria Gaither.“We've done this for almost 13 years, and I still get excited every time we get off the bus,” Collingsworth said. “It's so interesting how music can cross all kinds of barriers and inspire people from all walks of life. I think one of the reasons God created it is because it's such a powerful tool to get to people's hearts.”

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